Living in a multi cultural world is fun and interesting. But it can also cause miscommunication, misunderstandings and failures in your sales and customer service efforts if you are unprepared and unpracticed in cultural competency. Here are a few ideas to help you and your organization turn every interaction into a positive one.

1. You can have great multi-cultural
sales & customer service successes.
Tron Jordheim

2. Tron Jordheim

3. You just need to survive the cultural confusion…
…and the cultural clashes

4. Remember
• Everyone wants the same things:
No matter which culture they might feel a part of…
.or seem a part of

5. We all want
• To save time and money
• To feel as if we are being understood
• To be respected
• To deal with people who are NOT idiots

6. The idiot factor
• Many people deal with insensitive, uncaring and bigoted
people every day…
...sometimes all day long.
• It is not surprising that people might assume you are an
idiot before they even talk to you, if they already had a few
frustrating conversations before talking to you…
...or if they have preconceived notions.

7. The idiot hurdle
• Your first hurdle in any sales or customer
service situation is your prospect’s or
customer's assumption that you are an idiot.

8. The Turnaround
….when you do or show or say something that
indicates you are in fact NOT an idiot, your
prospect or customer will immediately relax,
feel a sense of relief and will become prepared
to make friends with you.

9. You are a real person with empathy
• When you are clearly not an idiot in the eyes
of your prospect or customer, you instantly
gain rapport and can have an honest and open
and human exchange.

10. You enjoy the people you talk to
• When you are a real person with empathy, cultural
clashes and cultural confusion are no longer offensive
or hurtful to your prospects and customers…
...the clashes and confusions become opportunities for
rapport building…
…and relationship building.

11. Cultural clashes and confusion happen
• They happen a lot
Not to worry!

12. You can recover from cultural clashes
and confusion!
Apologize for the situation.
Put the blame on yourself.
Take responsibility for causing the confusion.

13. Turn the situation around
With a little humor and a little politeness,
you can turn the confusion and the clashes into
Good Diplomacy (for your brand and for yourself).

14. Avoid cultural confusion
• Be respectful of people…
...and their time and their money.

15. Avoid cultural confusion
• Treat everyone as if they are smarter than you

16. Avoid cultural confusion
• Try to show people that you “get” a little
something about their culture

17. Avoid cultural confusion
• Assume it is your error if something goes
wrong

18. Avoid cultural confusion
• Participate in and support the communities
you serve
• Cause-marketing and community support go a
long way

19. Avoid cultural confusion
• Turn your mistakes into good diplomacy with a
little humor and a little politeness

20. You can have great multi-cultural
sales & customer service successes
Tron Jordheim

21. Turn your successes into
• Higher sales conversion rates
• Better customer service interactions
• More referrals
• Lower costs of customer acquisition
• Higher life-time customer value
• Pleasant and interesting personal interactions

22. Remember
• Everyone wants the same things
No matter which culture they might feel a part of…
...or seem a part of

23. We all want
• To save time and money
• To feel as if we are being understood
• To be respected
• To deal with people who are NOT idiots

24. You can recover from cultural clashes
and confusion
Apologize for the situation.
Put the blame on yourself.
Take responsibility for causing the confusion.

25. Listen and look for opportunities
• And your multi cultural sales and customer
service successes will be many.
Good luck and good selling!
Tron Jordheim